GNT seeding thoughts and other tidbits from around ballyards

Having taken part in the Greater Newark Tournament seeding meeting for the 15th, or so, year, I leave with the same feeling I usually leave with. The committee tried their best to fairly seed a large county and the system is imperfect -- and will always remain so.

It's always nice to see the coaches have that look on their face that I have every Sunday night when I'm assembling the Top 20. It's a mixture of amazement, nausea and a deer-in-headlights, who's winning the Yankees game stare.

Seeding what was an all-time high 25 teams was a big chore. All the coaches can do is give it an honest effort. To show the differences in opinion, the Top 10 seeds have yet to match my Essex County Top 10. It never has it all those years I've been involved in the process.

I've seen most of the top teams in the county (West Orange was rained out the two times I attempted to cover their games). I certainly didn't enter the meeting with a certified, no-doubt-about-it Top 5 or 10 seeds in my mind.

Everyone agreed that West Essex was the No.1 seed. In hindsight, West Essex coach Scott Illiano may have liked the No. 2 seed better. The top half of the bracket is a veritable minefield of GNT perennial heavyweights, including Nutley, Bloomfield, Livingston and Seton Hall Prep. Belleville and East Side are there, too, but are rebuilding.

A lot of attention was paid to Caldwell's 10-3 record entering the seeding meeting. Caldwell lost today to West Essex, 10-2, in a Super Essex Conference game. Seventh-seeded Caldwell is a solid club which I believe is dangerous in the bottom bracket. It has enough pitching to make noise and has a second-seeded Montclair team in its path it has already beaten, 17-3.

I don't think a lot of people really believe in West Orange outside of the seeding meeting because the team hasn't proven it in big GNT games in many years. But this squad has a deadly 1-2 in Gouin and Romano and looks like a pretty good hitting club.

Up top, the bracket is truly up for grabs. Just to fog-up your perspective further, consider this; Seton Hall Prep 10-runned Columbia today and Bloomfield did the same disservice to Livingston.

Verona is on a six-game winning streak and seems to have gotten itself healthy and straightened out. I've always liked the finished product Lou Racioppe puts on the field. Verona's 2-0 win over Cedar Grove today should be an eye-opener. Louie's boys get Seton Hall Prep on Saturday in the first round. Not a fair draw but one the Seton Hall players had better respect.

Around the state

One of the home runs of the past week for me was visiting with the array of coaches blessing the Caldwell bench. Head coach Tom Lamont, such a class act, has put together a staff I'd share a steak, or a bowl of pasta, with anytime.

Check this group out. Former Nutley coach Tom "call me Thomas" Gargiulo and former Caldwell and Rutgers standout Tom Edwards are the varsity assistants. Former Bloomfield Tech coach Dan Romano is the JV coach.

Coaches have always been some of my favorite people, that's why you see me defending them on the forum. Remember this, judge your coaches by the finished product and the team's ability to play up to and beyond its talent level.

Another good thought is to, mentally, put yourself in the coach's shoes. How would you do certain things?

I've discovered over the years, some of the biggest belly-aching about coaches originates from people who haven't so much as coached a Little League game. The dads who sit in the stands watching their sons play Little League games as other dads do the work of making players out of their boys, should zip it up. You don't get to complain from the stands. If you feel compelled to, keep it within the walls of your own home. And don't run down your coach in front of your kid.

Weather

It's going to get better, I promise. I must be getting old because I actually considered moving from the metal stands behind the West Essex backstop today to inside my car beyond the center field fence. And that was in the third inning. I was covered Seton Hall at Roxbury in an April game that was so cold, Mike Sheppard, Sr. said that day he was willing to give back 500 of his 1,000 career wins for a blanket.

Today wasn't anything like that, but it wasn't that pleasant either. Let's see, tee-shirt, fleece, hooded sweatshirt and leather jacket. Not enough. I was shivering so much in the sixth inning I thought I had come down with Parkinson's. No disrespect meant.

Fans

Perhaps Jack Venezia can relay to me the name of the home plate umpire who handled the West Essex-Caldwell game today. The guy was in control and did a great job in all facets. He took a lot of ribbing from the fans of both teams on a lot of close ball-and-strike calls. I thought he was right on it. The bleachers at West Essex are almost right on top of the backstop, so the fans do get a great look at balls and strikes.

A few Caldwell fans, students, were a bit over the top and the ump actually ended up ejecting one of the kids from the field. It took a lot for me not to laugh. It was just a kid who lacked etiquette, nothing serious, but I thought the ump did a fine job showing the kid the door. It was well-deserved. It was pretty funny seeing the look on the kid's face when he got the thumb. I didn't get the feeling the kid had much of a clue about baseball and was saying some stupid and inappropriate things. Hopefully he learned a lesson. At least he got warm faster.

A final thought not meant to be a smart aleck comment: What the heck is up with all the dandelions in the West Essex infield? There are more landscapers, per capita, in Faifield than any other city in the nation. We can't rid this field of dandelions? Who's running the show in that school district, the Sierra Club?